Behind This Outrageous Brutality

  N S Arjun

THE television images of the savagery exhibited by the Haryana Police in their attack on the workers of Japanese multinational company – Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India Pvt Ltd (HMSI) – brought to many minds the Jallianwala Bagh massacre perpetrated by the British rulers during the freedom movement. Only in one aspect were the two incidents different. The army under British rule fired upon the people, killing hundreds of them, while the police under the Congress government of Haryana rained lathis on the people, breaking their heads and limbs. Otherwise, the modus operandi has been similar – launching a savage attack on unarmed, peacefully gathered people after trapping them in a fixed area and closing all escape routes. In Gurgaon, hundreds of workers and their leaders were thrown into jail after being attacked and, on top of it, slapped with cases ranging from attempt to murder to rioting --- under sections 307, 148, 149 etc.

If General Dyer’s army embarked on its savagery in the interests of their British masters, the Haryana Police launched their brutal attack on the workers in the interests of Japanese MNC masters. It appears the Honda company has bought over the entire Gurgaon district administration who, in their over-eagerness to please their paymasters, launched such a savage, pre-meditated attack on the workers which sent shockwaves across the country. Here one has a glimpse of the savagery in the words of one of the victims, Dalveer: “After we were mercilessly beaten up, the police bundled us into vans and took us to the police station. There they asked each of us to show our wounds and when we did, they again beat on the same spots, shouting abuses. After detaining us for hours together, they took us to the civil hospital. Since yesterday not a single doctor or anyone has attended on us.”

CPI(M) LEADERS VISIT GURGAON

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat, CPI(M) leader in Rajya Sabha, Nilotpal Basu and CPI(M) Haryana state secretary Inderjit Singh, who visited the Gurgaon civil hospital on the morning of July 26 to meet the victims, were shocked to hear this. When the Superintendent of Police, Yogendra Nehra was pointedly questioned by the CPI(M) leaders, he hesitantly confessed that the injured were indeed first taken to the police stations. The CPI(M) leaders blasted the police officials saying that even in wars, the injured enemy troops are given first-aid and treatment while the workers in this case were treated much worse. The hostile attitude of the police – again deployed in huge numbers at the civil hospital on July 26 – was clearly evident. In fact, they were provoking the anxious relatives and friends of the injured workers when they had gathered in large numbers. A woman, whose injured brother was admitted in the hospital on the night of July 25 and later whisked away by the police, was abused by a high ranking police officer in obscene language when she sought to know her brother’s whereabouts. The already seething crowd of relatives burst out in anger, leading to minor scuffle with the police. Brinda Karat took the woman into the room of the hospital’s chief medical officer where the Inspector General of Gurgaon range, the district SP and other officials were present and raised the matter. The IG, Deepa Mehta, assured the CPI(M) leaders and the woman that she would take action against the guilty police officers.

The CPI(M) leaders demanded of the hospital authorities and police officers to provide them with the list of those admitted in the hospital and those arrested and lodged in police stations. Many injured workers and their relatives alleged that around 500 injured were brought to the hospital on the night of July 25 but many were later taken away to undisclosed places by the police. The list that was provided by the hospital CMO showed only 39 workers as being admitted while the police gave a list of 61 persons arrested. What happened to the rest was the main question troubling the relatives. Clearly, the administration did not want their savagery to be further exposed and therefore bundled the victims out. And those remaining in the hospital were just ignored by the doctors and staff. No treatment was provided in fact. An injured worker who had three fractures was sharing his cot with another injured worker! This was the state of affairs.

Even as the CPI(M) leaders left the hospital to meet the commissioner, the police once again let loose their terror on those gathered in the hospital premises. This time they used tear gas and lathis --- again, liberally. They did not spare the media persons too, many of whom received lathi blows. Deshabhimani Delhi correspondent Sajith was also injured in this attack. The CPI(M) leaders, on hearing the news, rushed back from their meeting to the hospital and strongly condemned the police brutality. They addressed the workers and their relatives, and called for a sustained struggle to prevent the government from acting as a stooge of multinational companies. They demanded immediate suspension of the Deputy Commissioner, the SP and transfer of IG Gurgaon range to restore the confidence of the people in whatever inquiry is to take place. The CPI(M) leaders also demanded immediate provision of treatment and compensation to all those injured in the attack and prosecution of Honda company officials for their blatant violation of labour laws. They wanted immediate release of all workers arrested by the police and lifting of cases booked against them. There were further visits by the CPI(M) leaders. Three MPs of the Party, Amitav Nandy, Santashree Chatterjee and Laxman Seth visited the hospital on July 27 and took stock of the treatment being provided to the injured workers. 

The strong reaction from the Left parties, trade unions, media and the people in general forced the insensitive Hooda government to order a judicial inquiry in place of its earlier decision of going in for a magisterial inquiry. He was summoned to Delhi by the prime minister in view of growing protests. The Left parties, after staging a walkout from both houses of parliament, raised this issue with the prime minister during their meeting on July 26. They made it clear that the officers must first be shifted before the inquiry begins, in order to instill confidence among the people. Earlier, at the call of the Delhi unit of CPI(M), a militant demonstration was organised in front of Haryana Bhawan in Delhi. Giving vent to their outrage, the demonstrators tried to crash through the barricades into Haryana Bhawan. The police resorted to use of water cannon to prevent this. The CPI(M) Polit Bureau and CITU have called for nationwide actions to protest this barbarity of the Haryana Police.

WHAT HAPPENED ON JULY 25?

What exactly happened on July 25? To know this, one has to go into what the Honda workers’ struggle has been all about. Honda is not new to India. Its joint venture with Indian company Hero – Hero Honda – was a ubiquitous name, as far as motorcycles were concerned, for more than a decade. However, it decided to launch a fully-owned company in India to benefit fully in the globalised times. Thus was launched the HMSI Pvt Ltd with its manufacturing facility at Manesar in Gurgaon district, which employed more than 3500 workers, both regular and trainees. It has now come to light that the company has been blatantly violating all labour laws and its officials often resorted to harassment of workers. Leeladhar of Sutrali Gaon, who has been working in the company since the last three years, told People’s Democracy about the sort of harassment meted out. A Japanese official of the company tried to barge into ladies toilet and, though prevented and warned by the workers, he kept repeating this repulsive practice. Unable to bear this, the workers gave him a thrashing. However, instead of pulling up the concerned official, the management summarily dismissed four employees and resorted to various other forms of harassment. One Sikh worker was asked to remove his turban during work hours; fixed timings were prescribed for going to toilets; if there is a break in attendance in a month, an amount of 350 rupees is cut from the employee’s salary; the company’s share of PF contribution was also being cut from workers’ salary etc. As the workers organised themselves by forming a union to fight this injustice – which they are perfectly entitled to as per existing labour laws – the company hit back by dismissing 40 workers. And as the struggle went on and larger demands of wage increase were also taken up, a total of 1700 employees were sacked by the company just like that. The company wanted to retrench workers and saw this as an opportunity. It was the obnoxious ‘hire and fire’ policy in real action.

It is in this background that the workers of HMSI waged a struggle against Honda company’s strong-arm methods. They had support of major trade unions and Left parties. CPI(M) leader in Lok Sabha, Basudev Acharia wrote a letter to prime minister seeking his intervention to restore the jobs of dismissed workers. CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta also took up the issue with the prime minister. However, the state government, more particularly the Gurgaon district administration, were acting as agents of Honda management. Although the company agreed to take back workers in batches of a few hundreds each, it was firm that it will not reinstate the 40 employees who were dismissed in the first place and in whose defence the workers had taken to the struggle path. This resulted in stalemate.

A joint meeting of trade unions held in Gurgaon decided to hold protest actions on July 25 at all district headquarters in Haryana to press their demand that all dismissed Honda workers should be reinstated. It was as part of this call that the workers took out the rally on July 25 from Manesar to Gurgaon. They were marching peacefully along this stretch and were to submit a memorandum to the DC.

The procession was stopped when it reached the Gurgaon industrial area. The police ordered the workers to return. CITU leader Raj Singh and AITUC leader Subhash Diwan engaged the police in a discussion to let the procession move forward. But the procession was again stopped a few metres away from the building housing the office of Industrial Association. The local industrial lobby, including the Honda company did not like this display of strength by workers. And it is now clear that they, in a planned manner, pressed into service hired goons to disrupt the procession. All of a sudden, masked men – as was evident in the television images – resorted to torching police vehicles and throwing stones. The fact that the police, despite being present in strength, did not make any effort to nab these persons shows the conspiracy and collusion.

After this disruption, the workers were informed by the police that the administration and the HMSI management would hold talks with them at the mini secretariat. They were asked to assemble there. Even as hundreds of workers reached the mini secretariat and were peacefully waiting for the DC to turn up for the talks, the administration in a pre-planned manner let loose hordes of policemen on them. The savage attack that followed, captured vividly by television cameras, has shocked the entire nation. Along with hundreds of workers, CITU leader Raj Singh, AITUC leader Subhash Diwan and HMSI Workers Union general secretary Suresh Gaur were also injured. After this savagery, the police took the workers and their leaders to the police stations and clamped serious cases against them. The fate of many injured workers remained unknown by the time of writing these lines. The police whisked them away from the hospitals.

While much of the focus in this entire issue has naturally been on the savagery of the police and the insensitivity of the Haryana administration, one cannot lose sight of the genesis of the problem – the recolonising process of globalisation being enthusiastically ushered in by our ruling classes. The mindless obsession with FDI is emboldening the foreign companies to blatantly disregard our labour laws. One can well imagine the status of affairs if the so-called “labour law reforms” are carried out. It will be a regime of “Hire & Fire” and “Bullet for Protest” all over.

But, then, Gurgaon gives hope as well. The militant manner in which the workers braved the lathis and the unflinching eagerness to continue their just struggle; the involvement of the workers’ families in fighting for justice; and more importantly, the countrywide reaction this savagery has generated are a case in point.